The Academy of Athens, in the context of promoting its extroversion as the country’s highest intellectual institution, proceeded with the establishment of a new organization, the “International Community (Koinon) of Academies”. The Inaugural Symposium of the “Koinon”, which, so far, includes members from 36 Academies around the world, will be held on February 9 and 10, 2026, in the historic neoclassical building of the Academy of Athens (28 Panepistimiou Str.). The Symposium coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Academy, a fact that gives it a special historical and symbolic character.
The “International Community (Koinon) of Academies” is a new, ambitious, international initiative of the Academy of Athens, inspired by the fundamental values of Plato’s Academy. It aims to promote interdisciplinary cooperation and substantive dialogue among Academies and distinguished personalities of science, letters, and the arts at a global level.
The Inaugural Symposium marks the official beginning of the operation of the “Koinon” and aspires to lay the foundations for a new international institution of intellectual cooperation. In this context, the Symposium will be held every four years, as a place for meeting and exchanging ideas on the major issues of our time, bridging scientific knowledge with culture and humanism.
The theme of the Symposium covers a broad interdisciplinary spectrum in the fields of natural, theoretical, social, and human sciences, arts and letters, with an emphasis on contemporary global challenges, such as artificial intelligence, the climate crisis, the protection of cultural heritage, and the resilience of societies in the Anthropocene. Internationally recognized scientists, academics, and intellectuals, members of leading Academies around the world, will participate in the proceedings of the Symposium, thus confirming the international character and high scientific level of the event.
The action of the “International Community (Koinon) of Academies” will culminate every four years with the organization of the World Intellect Olympiad, with a view to highlighting Athens – and in particular the site of Plato’s Academy – and the values of the School of Athens as timeless points of reference for the international dialogue of knowledge, science and culture in a difficult era for humanity.
